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St Boniface Collegiate Church and The Chantry House in Bunbury

The collegiate Church of St Boniface

Introduction

St Boniface himself, whose birth name was Winfrith, was a late 6th-century to mid-7th century English Benedictine monk, becoming a missionary in Germany and Frisia under the authority of the pope. He became an archbishop under Gregory III before going on to introduce reforms to the Church of France.

The church is perched on the side of the small valley of the river Gowy. It sits within a neat roughly rectangular stone-built boundary wall, which is most impressive on its western side, enclosing a rambling churchyard, which flows gently downhill. The Gowy that runs at the base of the valley is a fast-moving stream at this point, which wends its way northwest before emptying into the Mersey.

As with many medieval churches in the area, there is speculation that an Anglo-Saxon building preceded St Bonficace, made of wood, on the same site; and there is evidence, in the form of fragments of decorative stonework, of a Norman church preceding the early 14th century building.

The earliest phase of the medieval St Boniface’s Church was in 1320, when the Normal church was rebuilt in the Decorated style, but a large part of the church was rebuilt in 1385-6 when Sir Hugh Calveley established the church as a chantry to ensure that the canons’ prayers would reduce his time in Purgatory. As a nobleman Sir Hugh was a knight and a warrior and, already in his 60s, he had survived not only warfare, but also the devastating famines and plagues of the 14th century.

The current Church of St Boniface was established as a collegiate church, the first one I have visited in this area. The name “college” derives from the Latin word collegium, and translates roughly as “appointed or chosen together.” In other words, it is an official community of some description, not confined as it usually is today to an educational establishment. A collegiate church sits somewhere between a parish church and a monastic establishment. Instead of a single parish priest overseeing the church and congregation, the college of canons was a Christian community, but unlike a monastery was not secluded, did not follow a specific set of rules of the sort followed by monastic communities and did not require a life-time vow of commitment to the collegiate church. Most importantly, the church was just as much a community resource as any parish church and the canons, ordained priests with specific additional roles, were involved in parish life. Collegiate churches tended to be rather better financed than the average parish church, at least when they were initially established, because they were usually founded by wealthy donors like royalty, bishops or the aristocracy, whilst others were attached to university colleges. Some of the collegiate churches were dissolved following the Reformation following Henry VIII’s appointment of himself as the head of the new Church of England.

St Boniface’s was one of a number of churches that were also established as collegiate chantries. Chantries were intended to safeguard the soul, an ongoing financial investment to ensure prayers for the souls of specific individuals for eternity, thereby reducing a soul’s time in Purgatory. The most prestigious chantries were established in monasteries, where monks ordained as priests could carry out mass on behalf of those who had set up chantries, but any individual could set up his or her own church for the purpose of chantry.

Although the overall appearance of the church is coherently gothic, a great many changes were made during its life. The main styles are earlier Decorated gothic and, dating to Sir Hugh de Calveley’s investment, later Perpendicular remodelling. The nave and aisles were remodelled in c.1490. In the 1700s upper galleries were added to the nave. The church was substantially modified during the Victorian period. The 18th century galleries were removed, restoration work included the Late Perpendicular Ridley Chapel, which was in ruinous condition and the chancel floor was tiled. None of the medieval stained glass survived in any part of the church, partly due to the nave windows being fitted with iron casements in 1840. A clerestory was added above the windows, adding more light. The oak-panelled ceiling dating to the 1950s. The present stained glass is either 19th/early 20th century or modern, although small fragments of surviving medieval glass have been incorporated where possible.
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Simplified plan of the Church of St Boniface

The exterior

The first impression of the church exterior, as you do a circuit, is that the north side of the church has a massive and costly expanse of regimented windows, which together with the clerestory fill the church with far more light than a medieval church would normally have experienced, even with stained glass in place.

Although both sides of the nave consist of eight bays, you will notice that the north and south sides are different from one another. The north side, with a much smaller concentration of graves in the churchyard, has a much bigger bank of windows than the south side, making a remarkable first impression. Above them is an unusual balustrade that is not echoed on the south side. On both sides of the church are battlements and many pinnacles (some of which have fallen and can be seen in the churchyard) and do look out for gargoyles and grotesques, because there are some good examples.

The main gateway through the boundary wall, leading up two steps towards the tower, is 18th century. The medieval west door into the tower, used today as the visitor entrance, would have been used only for ceremonial occasions. Apart from the buttresses that support it, the tower is incorporated into the body of the church itself. A small door is located on the north side was opened during baptisms, whilst the congregation would have entered via the elaborate Decorated style south porch in the churchyard, retaining its original medieval doors, effigy of St Boniface and its clear views over the valley.

The south porch

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The interior

The tower and nave

Instead of standing beyond the nave, as with most churches, the tower is incorporated within the nave, with both aisles running along its sides (now blocked off for use as storage at the west, tower end). The base of the tower sits on sandstone bedrock and dates to Sir Hugh’s rebuild, with walls nearly 2m thick.

As well as the west and south entrances, there is also a small north door without a porch, but this was used only during baptisms, and was known as “the Devil’s Door.” During the ceremony it was left open to ensure that any evil spirits that escaped the child during baptism would exit the church. The frame of the doorway is original but the door itself dates to 1630.

View down the nave towards the chancel

The tower opens into the nave, which consists of a tall central section with views to the chancel at the east. The nave is flanked by two very elegant aisles. The aisle arcades are in Perpendicular style, replacing earlier aisles in the Decorated style, and are supported on particularly slender columns, giving an additional impression of space and height.

The remarkable bank of windows, particularly on the north side, provides the nave with much more light than it would normally have experienced, all in the style of the gothic Perpendicular. As all of the windows would have contained stained glass, there would have been much less light penetrating the interior than today, and the impact must have been spectacular. A 19th century clerestory is set above the windows, adding more light. The tall nave is topped with an oak-panelled ceiling dating to the 1950s. At the join between walls and ceiling there are angels holding painted shields representing local families who donated funds to ongoing care and modification of the church. The minimal amount of supporting wall between the windows has an impact on other aspects of the interior, as there is much less wall space than usual for memorial sculptures.

Immediately on your left as you enter the nave, underneath the window, is a statue commemorating Jane Johnson who died at the age of 24. It was found buried under a yew tree in 1882. The reason for this ignominious fate was apparently because the incumbent vicar in the 1760s found the large breasts too disturbing for an ecclesiastical context. On the far east end of the nave, in an aisle on the north side (left as you walk from the the tower towards the chancel) there is some fine medieval floor tiling under a communion table, with some grave stones laid into the floor. The tiles were found elsewhere in the church and moved here to preserve them.

Above the communion table is a short row of carved medieval stone sculptures, most of which represent excellent examples of grotesques, the remains of a former reredos. Grotesques are also set into the tops of the walls, particularly in the south aisle. On the opposite side of the nave, below the organ pipes, is a faint painted medieval altarpiece showing Christ rising from the tomb, flanked by important attendants, one of whom may represent St Boniface. Both the communion table and the organ pipes are located where chapels were once located at the east ends of each aisle.

The font dates to 1663, the medieval font apparently having been damaged during the Civil War. Behind the font in the south aisle are two lovely sets of painted wooden parclose panels showing images of saints, dating to c.1420-1450.

A brass chandelier dates to 1776.

The chancel

The 1921 Fred Crossley screen

Sir Hugh de Calveley with a calf shown on his suit of armour, his head resting on a sculpted calf and a third concealed in this photograph by his arms

The large chancel has been less radically modified than the nave. The walls were raised to a new height in 1520 but the rest of the chancel remains largely unchanged since the 1380s. It was originally divided from the nave by a rood screen, but the current screen, with its delicate carvings, was designed by Fred Crossley and dates from 1921. The size of the chancel was due to its role as a chantry. According to the St Boniface church’s online history leaflet, “The chancel in Sir Hugh’s collegiate church was designed to provide room for a chantry staff of eleven – a master, a submaster, five chaplains, two chanters, and two singers” in order to pray for the souls of the king, Sir Hugh and their ancestors and families. Sir Hugh died in 1394, unmarried.

The east window, apparently moved here from another church, was in the Decorated style, dating to the 14th century, its lovely tracery described by Pevsner/Hubbard as “uncommonly fanciful” and unique in Cheshire in terms of its flowering tracery. Much of the church’s medieval stained glass survived into the 19th century but the east window was blown out during a storm in the 1700s, and this window now has modern stained glass. Finds of glass beyond the east end show that it originally depicted the Jesse tree.

Sir Hugh himself is in pride of place in the centre of the chancel, with his 7ft long effigy sitting above a chest tomb, all in expensive alabaster, with many traces of paint still surviving on the chest tomb. It is surrounded by the original spiked railings. The three calves of Sir Hugh’s family shield are present on parts of his effigy, and a lion sits at his feet. The niches of the chest tomb would have contained weeping figures, now lost. The graffiti belongs mainly to the 17th century, carved by Civil War prisoners. Whether Sir Hugh is actually buried here is unknown.

Within the altar rails at the north side of the chancel is the colourfully elaborate effigy and tomb of Sir George Beeston, restored in 1937. He was a descendant of Sir Hugh de Calveley, and served in the Royal Navy as Admiral of the Fleet under four monarchs. Opposite it, also behind the altar rails on the south side (right) are the three seats of the sedilia, where the clergy sat during services, along with a small piscina, a basin for holy water, which drained into the churchyard, all attractively ogee-headed.

Unlike most churches, where an organ was slotted into an aisle of the nave, the 1895 organ at St Boniface was installed in the chancel on the southern side, facing into the south aisle.

The Ridley Chapel

The 1527 Ridley Chantry Chapel was built by Sir Raufe Egerton, a soldier rewarded for his loyalty by Henry VIII with a village near Bunbury. The endowment was much more modest than that of Sir Raufe’s ancestor Sir Hugh, employing two chantry priests employed to pray for his own soul, and those of his family. He built a house in which the priests resided, still standing today and discussed briefly below.

The chapel sits on the south side of the chancel, accessed through a substantial stone screen via a pair of very unusual carved doors, different on the chancel and chapel sides. The doors have a unique interlaced trellis topping and, on the chancel side, linenfold carving. On the chapel side the doors have and have the monograms of Sir Raufe and his wife Mary carved into the lower sections.

The screen dividing the chancel from the chapel has, on its interior face, some Renaissance paintwork, the earliest known in the region.

Until the Civil War, Sir Raufe’s marble chest-tomb stood, like Sir Hugh’s, in the centre of the chantry chapel. The chapel remained unfinished at his death and although some work continued, according to the detailed instructions left in his will, the dissolution of the college churches and chantries in 1548 led to the abandonment of the work, and it was in a highly ruinous condition by the mid 19th century, when restoration was undertaken.

After 1548

The church’s chantry college was dissolved during Reformation in 1548 and the church became Crown property before the tithes (the income of the church) were sold by Elizabeth I.

Beeston Castle

Although efforts were made to keep Cheshire out of the Civil War (1642-1659), with the Bunbury Agreement signed to this effect, the county was nevertheless dragged into the hostilities. Royalist forces had taken up position at Chester in 1642, using it as a base to provision themselves from the Dee, which was still a working port with river access via the Dee to the Irish Sea and Liverpool Bay. Shortly afterwards, Parliamentarians established themselves at Nantwich. Beeston sat right in the middle of the two opposing bases, and the parliamentarians installed a garrison at the castle in February 1643, under the control of Captain Thomas Steele, who oversaw repairs to make the castle defensible. St Boniface’s was used by Parliamentarians who were garrisoned at Bunbury to house Royalist prisoners who had been taken in the fighting at Beeston Castle and other local battlefields.

In the 1700s galleries were added to the nave, but these were removed in the 1860s during a period of Victorian alterations, which also removed the plaster covering the walls, the wall paintings and the traditional box pews. The tiling on the floor of the chancel dates to this time.

Electric light was not introduced until 1931. Sadly in 1940 a land-mine inflicted serious damage on the church, partly because the 1840s alterations to the windows had badly undermined the structural integrity of the church.

Today the nave has a feeling of timelessness that is very difficult to pin down. This may be due to the mass of light that the main windows and the clerestory produce, combined with the lofty ceiling on slender columns; the absence of traditional blocks of pews in favour of backed benches; and the minimal amount of memorial clutter on the walls, all providing the nave with a faint and attractively unusual hint of modernity. The chancel is much more traditional, but the centrepiece provided by Sir Hugh’s effigy and chest tomb, the painted tomb of Sir George Beeston and the addition of the Ridley Chapel are all truly compelling features. The amount of paintwork in the church is unusual, and although much of it was restored in the Victorian period, it gives an excellent idea of how much more colour would have been present in a pre-Commonwealth church. This venerable church, established to provide chantry services for Sir Hugh de Calveley, is distinctive in both look and feel, outside and in, and has a lot of very unusual features to offer the visitor.

The Chantry House

The village surrounding the church is very attractive, with multiple styles of building dispersed along the lines of several lanes, one of which dips down to the Gowy and climbs steadily beyond. Most of the village’s core dates back as far as the Tudor period, with fine historic buildings from other periods, all surrounded by an interrupted ring of more modern homes.

Thomas Aldersey. Source: The Haberdashers’s Company

One of the interesting personalities in the village was Thomas Aldersey who in 1565 purchased the tithes (church income) from Elizabeth I. He was a contemporary of Sir Raufe Egerton, and as well as being a Member of Parliament, he was affiliated to the Company of Haberdashers, a powerful London Puritan guild, and appointed them as his trustees in 1590. This was significant because it gave the guild authority over the church, and their involvement lead to Bunbury becoming a centre for non-conformism and, in the 17th century, became the home of Cheshire’s first Methodist society. Even more interesting is that a census of 1640 showed that the parish housed some 112 illegal Catholics. Unsurprisingly, the two factions were often in conflict. This non-conformism lasted into the 19th century when there were two non-conformist chapels in Bunbury, the Wesleyan Trinity Chapel established in 1806, and a Primitive Methodist church on College Lane built in 1876.

John Bradshaw by George Perfect Harding. Source: Wikipedia

At the foot of the dip alongside the Gowy is The Chantry House, built by the same Raufe Egerton responsible for the Ridley Chapel, as a home for his chantry priests. It is a domestic half-timbered property dated by Historic England to roughly 1527, some 200 years after Sir Hugh Calveley had been sufficiently terrified by the prospect of Purgatory to finance a new incarnation of the church. Like many other buildings in Bunbury, The Chantry House has a rich history of its own and in 1594 was donated by Thomas Aldersey to the school’s master (the school has since been demolished). It was here that John Bradshaw is thought to have lodged as a child to attend the neighbouring school, growing up to become a jurist, judge, lawyer and politician. As a Chief Justice in Chester and North Wales, he presided over a number of witch trials. In 1649, he was made Lord President of the parliamentary commission that was established to put Charles I on trial, signed the death warrant on January 29th 1649, and subsequently held senior positions in the Commonwealth. Although he was buried in Westminster Abbey with his wife, on the reinstatement of the monarchy under Charles II they were both later disinterred, put on show, and then posthumously executed by beheading.

The Chantry House

As Clare Dudman’s article highlighted, the centuries-old line of sight between the house and the church was under threat recently, when a proposal was submitted for a new building development in the meadow that lies between Chantry House (and the River Gowy), and the slope up to the church. The planning permission was recently refused in favour of retaining the open meadow. Here’s an excerpt from the Decision Notice (Application No. 25/3509/PIP) refusing planning permission:

The river Gowy

The proposed development is located within the Open Countryside and does not meet
any of the exceptions noted for development within Open Countryside. Furthermore, the
proposal would not integrate into the rural surrounding context and would erode the
existing distinction between the settlement boundaries and the wider open countryside
which contributes to the character of Bunbury. Furthermore, the development would
impact on the important local views and vistas and would have a conspicuous
urbanising effect that would fail to respect the intrinsic rural character of the wider
landscape, which would be harmful to the verdant rural character, appearance and
qualities of Bunbury contrary to Policies PG6.

Common sense, good taste and support for the retention of rural elements within the village prevailed in the end. A footpath through the field gives good views of both The Chantry House and the church.

There is a Wikipedia page showing all the listed buildings in Bunbury.

Visiting details

There are no details of opening times for St Boniface either on the website or at the church, but it was open on both visits, and appears to have an open door policy. It is worth checking the website to ensure that you don’t accidentally arrive when a service or a church event is being held. For those using satnav, the church is on Bowe’s Gate Road and the What3Words address is ///dollar.papers.currently. There is no official car park but there is plenty of on-street parking in the immediate vicinity of the east end of the church.

If you are more organized than I was, you can download a PDF of the history of the church from the St Boniface website before you visit here. I recommend doing so because there are no pamphlets to pick up or purchase at the church to learn about its history, although on a cupboard top on the right-hand side, just before you enter the nave, you can open a copy of the book England’s Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins to see the one-page summary, and next to it there is a framed sheet of A4 with a potted history of the church. Other sources are listed below.

The Chantry House is a private residence and not open to the public.

If you go for a wander around the village, do take care to stand well back for the traffic, because there are no footpaths on most of the lanes, and delivery vehicles and through-traffic tend to travel at some speed, in spite of the narrow and bendy roads.

Sources:

Books and papers

Cook, G.H. 1959. English Collegiate Churches. Phoenix House Ltd

Dudman, Clare 2026. The Chantry House and School Field, Bunbury. Chester Antiquary (newsletter of Chester Archaeological Society), 2026 issue 1
https://chesterarchaeolsoc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CHE_Antiq_26-01_V03.pdf (with links to other sources of information)

Farmer, David 2011 (5th edition). Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford University Press.

Jenkins, Simon 2000. England’s Thousand Best Churches. Penguin Books

Jeffrey, Paul 2007. The Collegiate Churches of England and Wales. Robert Hale Ltd.

Pevsner, Nikolaus and Edward Hubbard 1971. The Buildings of England: Cheshire. Penguin Books

Roffey, Simon 2007. The Medieval Chantry Chapel. An Archaeology. Studies in the History of Medieval Religion XXXIV. Boydell Press

Websites

Chester Civic Trust
February 2025 event: Chester Witches
https://chestercivictrust.org.uk/february-event-chester-witches/

Historic England
The Church of St Boniface, Bowes Gate Road, Bunbury, List Entry 1138626
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1138626
The Chantry House, Wyche Road, Bunbury, List Entry 1138635
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1138635

St Boniface Church, Bunbury
Home
https://www.stbonifacebunbury.org/
Tour of St Boniface
https://www.stbonifacebunbury.org/_files/ugd/2ae44a_06c1c7df158841a39fd31257c004ed7e.pdf
Historical Document Archive
https://www.stbonifacebunbury.org/archive-1

Wikipedia
Listed Buildings in Bunbury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listed_buildings_in_Bunbury,_Cheshire

Objects of privilege in the Ridgway Silver Gallery at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester

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Sugar sifter spoon. George Walker I, Chester. 1794-95. 1988.53

Silver is one of those materials that can be sublime in its simplicity, relying on the brilliance of the fabric, the purity of shape to create beauty and elegance in functional items. It can also be elaborately ornate, relying on layers of opulent, showy adornment for its impact and to make its ostentatiously unsubtle point. The Grosvenor Museum in Chester displays both extremes and everything in between, in its Ridgway Silver Gallery. The Ridgway Gallery is dedicated both to items of silver that were made in Chester and those that were purchased elsewhere, mainly in London, for use in Chester.

Chester had a long tradition of silver-working at least from the 13th century onwards. The Chester Goldsmiths Co., registered just before the Dissolution in 1531, were the key authority for the city goldsmiths at that time, laying down standards and rules for production, assaying, and marking objects. Assaying is a quality control method by which the content of silver in an item is determined, and confirms its purity, integrity, validity, which in turn offered guarantees of value for purchasers. In the 17th century there was a decline in production by Chester goldsmiths as London grew to prominence. This was aggravated by the Civil War which raged around Chester’s city walls.

In spite of some very rocky years, the 18th century marked an upturn in the fortune of Chester silver production, described by Peter Boughton as its heyday. Two family dynasties, the Richardsons and Lowes, became synonymous with locally produced silver. After 1884 Chester’s Goss Street Assay Office was one of only four in Britain that was still active. This was only closed in 1962, by an Act of Parliament.

Silver has always been a prestige item, intended for conspicuous display. Even the most modest items would have been unaffordable for most of Chester’s population, so the market for silver was a clear indication of the prosperity of the city’s elite. Wealthy individuals and families, as well as the city corporations, institutions and establishments were all affluent consumers of Chester silver, purchasing it to demonstrate both their personal status and the prestige of local enterprises.

The Grosvenor Museum. Source: Geograph (1335188)

The Grosvenor Museum was founded in 1885-6 but it was not until the 1950s that it received the first pieces that formed its earliest display of silver. In 1951 the Trustees of Chester Municipal Charities placed their collection of silver on long term loan. The following year the museum began to acquire items of its own. The earliest goldsmith represented in the Museum’s collection is William Mutton in the 16th century. The first exhibition of Chester silver was held to celebrate the Festival of Britain in 1951, which was held at the County Hall. The present gallery was opened in 1992 by the Prince of Wales. It was named after Canon Maurice Ridgway, the Vicar of Bowdon, who contributed a major work to the study of Chester silver with his 1968 Chester Goldsmiths from Early Times to 1726. In 2000, the museum published Peter Boughton’s Catalogue of Silver in the Grosvenor Museum.

Interestingly, most of the more elegant and arguably the most aesthetically rewarding examples in the museum’s collection were earlier and were made in Chester, whilst the more ostentatious and elaborate pieces, including racing cups and church plate, were made in London and elsewhere, and purchased by local institutions.

Silver pap boat by George Walker I of Chester, dating to 1771-2. My photo. Catalogue number 39, p.72-74

A stunning piece that helps to demonstrate the skills that go into the less elaborate pieces is the small pap boat made in Chester by George Walker I, dating to 1771-2. It is made of sterling silver and is 12.3cm long. Pap, according to Peter Boughton, is a “mix of stale white breadcrumbs or flower, cooked to a sloppy mush in water, with the possible addition of a little wine, beer, beef-stock or milk” and was fed to infants as young as three months to aid with weaning them onto solids. It sounds truly appalling. It was also fed to invalids, poor things. By holding the pap cup in the palm of the hand, it was easy to place the feeding end into the mouth and, by tipping it gently, much easier to control delivery of the content than using a handled jug. Fifteen other Chester pap boats are known. Due to the lack of fussy decoration, the shape of the jug can be admired without distraction, and the absence of anywhere to hide in the crafting of the object allows the goldsmith’s mastery of the art to be appreciated.

Peter Boughton’s Catalogue of Silver in the Grosvenor Museum. Chester. Phillimore., 2000. The cover image is a silver-covered cup made for the Chester races by Peter and William Bateman of London 1813-4, (no.96 in the Catalogue)

Of the many elaborate and ornate pieces in the Ridgway Gallery is the silver-gilt cup, with a cover, made for the Chester races by Peter and William Bateman of London 1813-4, (no.96 in the Catalogue). It represents an item that was purchased for use in Chester rather than made by one of the local goldsmiths. Horse racing on Chester’s Roodee has been taking place since the early 16th century, with the earliest known painting of racing on the Roodee dating to the earlier 18th century, by Peter Tillemans. Even today competition winners are awarded elaborate trophies or cups, often highly ornate, usually in silver, sometimes gilded, recognizing a significant sporting achievement with a substantial and expensive display of splendour. This was the object chosen for the cover of Peter Boughton’s Catalogue of Silver in the Grosvenor Museum, published in 2000. Its Neoclassical design sits somewhere between the elegant simplicity of the unadorned items and the more ornamented items that are virtually encrusted with decorative emblems and motifs. It was made for the second Earl Grosvenor, who paid £70.00 for it, and on the opposite side from “Chester Races 1814,” shown on the catalogue cover, shows his heraldic device. As well as emulating a Classical shape, it also makes use of Classical motifs. The Bateman family of London had a long history of providing racing cups for the Chester races, and this is stylistically very similar to other trophies that they produced for Chester.

Peter Tillemans: Chester and the Roodee c.1710–1734, showing a horse race in action. Grosvenor Museum, via ArtWork.org

1755-6 (catalogue no.27) by Richard Richardson II, Chester

Another twin-handled ornate cup is the St Martin drinking cup 1755-6 (catalogue no.27) by Richard Richardson II, Chester. It is a rather bizarre mixture of decorative concepts. It’s key theme is the cast figure of St Martin of Tours on horseback, mounted on the lid. Boughton comments that the use of cast figures is rare, and was confined to particularly elaborate vessels. Although St Martin (c.316/336 – 397) became the third Bishop of Tours, be was born in Hungary, and served in the Roman cavalry in Gaul (modern France). He performed a number of miracles and acts of charity. The scene on the lid shows one of his best known charitable acts, similar in tone to the Good Samaritan, where he uses his sword (the top half missing on this piece) to cut his cloak in half to give to a freezing beggar dressed only in rags. As he slept that night, St Martin dreamed that Christ appeared before him wearing that section of the cloak that he had donated to the beggar. St Martin left the army to become a follower of Hilary, the Bishop of Poitiers in southern France, and went on to found at least one monastery.

The other side of the St Martins Cup. Source: Peter Boughton's Catalogue of Silver (catalogue no.27), p.59

The St Martin’s Cup, showing the other side from the one above. Source: Catalogue of Silver in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester. By Peter Boughton, p. 59, catalogue number 27

The main body of the vessel is a good example of fine chasing (the working of the silver to produce relief decoration). Boughton says that the chasing is the equal of examples found in contemporary London: “employing a wide range of textures from very find matting on an even ground to vigorous punching over an irregular embossed surface.” The style of the cup is derived from rococo designs but the body decoration is heavily influenced by Chinese porcelain and ornament, with obviously oriental themes combined with contemporary emblems from the decorative arts in the bottom half of the cup around the entire body of the vessel. On one side a lady sits flanked by two cherry blossom trees and a tall slender pyramid or obelisk, with flowers in her lap, shown above; on the other, a figure sits with fishing rod in one hand, a sprig of cherry blossom in the other, and an urn set back to the rear right. Above these scenes in the upper register are two ornamental cartouches, designed to house crests, of which one is empty and the other has an obviously later lion’s head crest, probably dating to the 19th century, shown on the above photograph. The only parts of the cup that have not received some form of decoration are the two handles, which are beautifully shaped but plain, apart from thumb rests and the sinuous, tapering “ducks-head” ends. The lid shows a Chinese style pavilion on one side, and another tall slender pyramid or obelisk on the other. There is no connection between St Martin and east Asia, so the themes are presumably purely decorative. The overall impact is remarkable, demonstrating the artist’s skill and the purchaser’s ambitions to own a unique, highly noticeable item that would surely draw the attention and comment of visitors. Its style and themes make it unique in Chester. Interestingly, it is thought that although is has the mark of Richard Richardson II on the base, it may have been purchased in London and the marked when it arrived in Chester.

Coconut standing cup made by George Lowe I, dating to c.1807-17. My photo. Catalogue no.59, p.94-96

One of the most curious of the objects in the gallery is a remarkable glossy black goblet-style cup with a silver rim and a silver stem and base. The 11cm tall black “standing cup” is perhaps one of the more surprising objects in the Ridgway Silver Gallery in Chester’s Grosvenor Museum. The glossy section of the cup, looking like opaque black glass, is actually half a coconut. It relies for its visual impact not on ornate decoration, but on the quality and texture of its materials, the high polish, and its satisfyingly rounded profile. It was made by George Lowe I, whose mark appears on the base, and dates to c.1807-17. Lowe originally had a business on Watergate Street and in 1803 moved to new premises in Bridge Street. The Lowes passed the trade from father to son over six generations. According to Peter Boughton’s catalogue (pages 94-6), the coconut was fastened to the stem with a single brass screw and washer. As well as being decorative, the silver rim protects the brittle top of the coconut. There is a letter “B” engraved on the opposite side of the rim, but it is not known today what this originally signified.

The Lowe family shop was on Bridge Street Row East, the second from the right in this 1820 print by George Bateman. Photograph on one of the interpretation boards in the Ridgway Gallery

Using coconuts to make novelty drinking vessels was not uncommon. Once the fibres were removed from the exterior, they could be scraped to a smooth surface and then polished to provide the high gloss seen here. As coconut is not porous, and can be worked until very thin, it was perfect as an imaginative alternative to glass, with an unusual texture and appearance, providing an instant talking point. Although records indicate that Lowe made other coconut cups, this is the sole survivor, but one of his other examples sold for £1 5s 0d (which equates, in the National Archives Currency Converter, to around £58.00 today). Examples made by other manufacturers in Chester were recorded, with Boughton’s catalogue listing twenty four examples.

Coconut cup by Cornelis de Bye in 1598 in the Walters Museum (number 571046). Source: Wikipedia

The earliest known record of a coconut cup dates from 1259, but the earliest surviving examples date from the 15th century, when coconut was thought to have magical, supernatural properties, and due to its rareness was a prestige material that made it a good partner for silver. As shipping and trade made coconuts more accessible and prices came down, many more continued to be made. In Europe coconuts were commonly covered with ornament and scenes, much like carved wood, showing great skill, but opting for a completely different type of aesthetic preference. The extravagant example to the right is by Cornelis de Bye, dating to 1598. The inscription in Dutch, “Drunkenness is the root of all evil,” is accompanied by Old Testament scenes.

A highly ornate but diminutive item is a baby’s rattle combined with a whistle, bells and, before it was lost, a stick of coral on which the baby could chew, protruding from the socket at the base. It was placed around the baby’s neck on a ribbon, both a toy and a teething device. It was made by John Twemlow of Chester, in 1828-29. Confined mainly to the home, it is equally impressive as an example of conspicuous wealth as the above cups.

St John the Baptist Hospital badge from 1682

Finally, one of my favourite object groups in the gallery is one about which I can find out very little information: the large oval hospital badges, engraved with specific motifs and legends and often featuring skulls as reminders of human mortality. Apologies for the photographs, which are the best of several attempts at photographing several of the badges. Unfortunately there is no information about the badges in Boughton’s catalogue of the museum’s silver, because they were only loaned to the museum and are therefore not included. If you have any additional information do get in touch. Although hospital badges are very familiar from modern nursing, where they have been traditionally awarded to nursing staff for both professional achievements and for association with particular hospitals, the 17 to 18th century ones on display in the Ridgway Gallery were awarded not to nursing staff or hospital governors but to almsmen, those who lived in almshouses and other housing provided by hospitals and religious institutions, often sponsored by named benefactors. Almsmen and almswomen were awarded places in almshouses on the basis of certain stringent criteria, and were then responsible for certain duties within the almshouses. The hospital and its buildings were intentionally demolished during the Siege of Chester (1644-1646) to prevent them walls being used as cover by the Parliamentarians, following which Oliver Cromwell put its reconstruction into the hands of the newly founded Chester Corporation. In 1714 the hospital buildings were ordered to be taken down and rebuilt, creating today’s Bluecoat Building and associated structures.

St John the Baptist Hospital badge by Thomas Maddock, 1736-37

On the examples in the Ridgway Gallery, the large oval almsmen badge disks, held onto clothing by use of a wooden attachment at the rear, commemorate benefactors who provided alms via the Hospital of St John in Chester, which was located outside the Northgate. At least five of those on display from the 17th century have the name Richard Bird inscribed on them in large letters, the name of the benefactor, together with the year 1682. The 17th century ones date to 1682, whilst the one with the wooden backing also shown here was made by goldsmith Thomas Maddock (who was mayor in 1744-5) and dates to 1736-37. The badges were made during a period of great change for the hospital and its dependents.

Walking into the Ridgway Silver Gallery can be a bit overwhelming due to the sheer amount of lighting, polished silver, reflective surfaces and luxuriant red backgrounds, and it can be difficult to know where to start, but the interpretation panels and labelling are excellent, Peter Boughton’s catalogue is provided on a shelf for perusal, and there are some fascinating individual objects. From the elaborate and ornate to the elegantly minimalist there is something for everyone.

Visiting details are available on the Grosvenor Museum and Art Gallery here.

Sources:

The detailed Grosvenor Museum interpretation panels in the Ridgway Silver Gallery offer an excellent source of information.

Books and papers

Boughton, Peter 2000. Catalogue of Silver in the Grosvenor Museum. Phillimore.

Ridgway, Maurice 1968. Chester Goldsmiths from Early Times to 1726. John Sherratt & Son Ltd

Stewart-Brown, R. 1926. The Hospital of St John at Chester. The Historic Society of Lancashire and Shire, vol. 78, 1926, p.66-106
https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/78-6-Stewart-Brown.pdf

Websites

Great British Life
Inside the historic almshouses in Chester and Nantwich, 25th February 2025, by Joanne Goodwin
https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/cheshire/24884488.inside-historic-almshouses-chester-nantwich/

Sterling silver cup by Thomas Robinson, 1690-92, Boughton catalogue number 5. The base is chased with alternate alternate spiral fluting and gadrooning, with two ornate handles, but the upper part of the body is plain and shows off the reflective surface of the vessel. Cups like this were used for caudle, a spiced mixture of alcohol (wine, ale or brandy) and gruel. The balance between un-ornamented surface and the gently sweeping decorative features has particular elegance.

St Chad’s Church, Farndon, originally medieval but largely rebuilt in 1658 due to war damage

Saint Chad, 1st Bishop of Lichfield

Early Medieval Mercia. Source: medievalists.net

According to Bede (writing in the 8th century) St Chad was one of four brothers who entered the church in the 7th century, and started his training at Lindisfarne Monastery under St Aiden. He was ordained in Ireland and became a leading light in the Anglo-Saxon church, rising through the ecclesiastical ranks on the kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia and under King Wulfhere, one of the earliest Christian kings. He was appointed Bishop of Northumbria, including York, and became the first Bishop of Lichfield in the new diocese of Lichfield, at the heart of Mercia. Mercia was one of seven British kingdoms of 7th century Britain and occupied most of central England. Chad died in AD c.672 and was buried in Lichfield Monastery, now Lichfield Cathedral. Regarded as a pioneer who helped to spread Christian teaching in and beyond Mercia, he became a popular icon during the Middle Ages in the Midlands and its borders.
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The Medieval Church

It is remarkable to think that the Civil War obliterated so much of the medieval church in 1643 that most of it had to be rebuilt in the 17th century. The Domesday book records a village priest, as well as two other priests locally, strongly suggesting the presence here of an earlier church, probably wood-built.

Today’s church has a nave and tower that are thought to have followed the original medieval footprint dating to the14th century building. All that obviously remains of the 14th century is the tower, of which three storeys date to around 1343. Everything else appended to this basic structure on north, east and south sides are later in date. Although you enter the church through an 18th century yellow sandstone porch, the thick wooden door itself is actually medieval, a quite astonishing survival.

Lines of the old roof of St Chad's in Farndon marked in white

Lines of the old roof of St Chad’s in Farndon marked on this photograph in white.

Inside, looking towards the tower from the nave, you can see the converging lines at which the old church roof met the tower, considerably lower down than the current roof, and terminating further down than the current arch. This suggests that the medieval church was both shorter and darker. Within the tower there are three chambers with one each for bell-ringers, another for the clock-works and the belfry itself, containing the bells, originally three, at the top.

In the north aisle in the interior of the church is a 14th century funerary effigy showing a knight in armour holding a shield carved with a Latin inscription reading “Here lies Patrick of Barton. Pray for Him.” Sir Patrick holds a sword in his other hand, and has some form of animal at his feet, now too badly worn to be identified with any certainty. This effigy is one of three that was found, but the other two were ground down to make white sand. Although Sir Patrick survived this particular indignity, he was used as a step into the belfry in in the 1900s, which accounts for the wear and tear to his face and the animal. Latham says that one of the other effigies was inscribed with the word “Madocusdaur” and a third was inscribed with a wolf.

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John Speed, Tailor and Mapmaker

John Speed’s 1610 map of Cheshire. Source: Wikimedia Commons

John speed was the Farndon tailor’s son and was baptised in St Chad’s in 1552. There’s a good biography of him on the New World Cartographic website explaining how Speed followed his father into tailoring at a time when fashion was of growing importance, doing very well in the business, whilst at the same time pursuing his interests in history, geography, cartography, antiquities and genealogies. It was not until he moved to London that he gained a patron and was able to abandon tailoring and launch a new career. His map of the County of the Palatine of Chester was completed in 1610-11, and was used by both sides during the Civil War. He died in 1629 and is buried in London.
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The Civil War

Musket ball and cannon ball marks in the walls of the medieval tower.

The tower in Farndon’s church shows musket-ball and cannon shot damage to the exterior, to the right of the main porch, but the fact that the rest of the church had to be rebuilt in 1658 makes it clear that it experienced a much worse time of it than its counterpart in Holt. In 1643 the commander of the Cheshire and Lancashire Parliamentarian troops used Farndon and its church as a headquarters and barracks, assembling a force of around 2000 to force their way across the bridge, through Royalist defences. The subsequent fighting entered the churchyards at both Holt and Farndon. During the fighting in Farndon churchyard the roof was somehow set alight. In spite of the damage to the roof, the Parliamentarians reoccupied the church until they were ousted in winter 1645.
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The 17th Century Rebuild

Apart from the tower at the west end, the current red sandstone church with its slate-tiled roof is largely the result of the post-Civil War rebuild in 1658, presumably re-using some of the original medieval stonework. The main body of the church consists of a nave with clerestories (a run of windows above the nave below roof level to allow in light) and two aisles, terminating in the chancel at the east end. The 5-bay arcade separating the nave from the aisles consists of round piers (columns) with simple capitals and pointed arches. Over 40 different mason marks are dotted throughout the church, each one identifying a separate mason, giving a hint of the scale of the workforce required to rebuild St Chad’s. There used to be a musician’s gallery at the tower end, but this was removed in the 19th century.

Mason’s mark on the arch between the nave and the tower

The nave, looking towards the chancel, of the 1658 nave

The nave of the 1658 nave, arcade and overhead clerestory. The entrance to the Barnston chapel is shown at lower far right.

The new church was taller than the old one, with the clerestory and the large Gothic-style lancet windows letting in much more light. The tower was provided with a new top section at this time.

Adding to the footprint of the old church, the Barnston family, major landowners in the area, built a small chapel off the chancel end of the south aisle, for their private use and to bury and commemorate family members. According to the church’s history booklet, there are records mentioning Barnstons in Churton during the reign of Henry VI in the 15th century. In the 17th century William Barnston was a major contributor to the rebuild of the church, and requested that he be buried under a gravestone in the south aisle of the church that has already been placed ready. His 1663 will left a substantial bequest to the church for its upkeep. He died in 1664.

The Civil War window, St Chad’s, Farndon

An adviser to Charles I at the Siege of Chester, William Barnston was responsible for the famous Civil War window in the chapel. What surprises most people who see it for the first time is how small it is, but it is full of details that show Royalist participants, including Barnston himself, and a variety of items of contemporary clothing and equipment used in the Siege of Chester. Pevsner and Hubbard say that the technique is “decidedly Dutch” and Latham adds that “Its artist took his design for the armour from a military work by Thomas Cookson (1591-1636) and for the bottom border from prints by Abraham Bosse (1632).” My photo, left, is very poor due to the lack of light, but have a look at the Visit Stained Glass website for a much better image and a close-up of the depiction of William Barnston.

There are many features of interest to look out for in the 17th century church. In the south aisle there is a rather fine sculpted wooden beam support. The church’s booklet questions whether it is a human or an animal but it looks very like the lions with curly manes that are familiar from Tudor and Jacobean carvings. It is surprising that it is on its own. The damaged medieval font was repaired by Samuel Woolley of Churton but the current octagonal font is thought to date to 1662, replacing the repaired one.
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18th, 19th and early 20th century alterations

Georgian style porch, St Chad’s

According to Frank Latham, by 1735 “St. Chad was surrounded by green fields and the houses were few and far between,” and the Massie family seems to have been important to the congregation at this time, with six pews allocated to Richard Massie Esq., and his family. He adds that the east wall was demolished in the 18th century and shifted 10ft (c.3m) further to the east, providing a much larger chancel. Towards the end of the century repairs to the roof were made between 1793 and 1798. Today the red sandstone church is entered via a Georgian-style porch built in yellow sandstone, although I have seen no mention of a precise date for this, and inside there is a large 18th century oak chest that housed the church plate and the parish records.

Memorial to Francis Fletcher 1782

The eastern end of the church was remodelled to include today’s chancel in 1853, not by the Barnstons this time but by the Marquess of Westminster. The carved reredos behind the altar shows the Last Supper and was installed in 1910, with the carvings on the pulpit were added in 1911, showing St Chad accompanied by the usual pulpit team of Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, represented by their emblems. In 1927 the original three bells were joined by another five. The church booklet says that they were rung to mark nationally important occasions, including the defeat of Napoleon in Egypt in 1799, and his defeat at Trafalgar in 1805.

Of the various memorials, one that may be of interest to those familiar with the Barnston obelisk just outside Farndon, is the marble memorial to the Major Roger Barnston (died 1847) in the Barnston chapel. The obelisk in the field on Churton Road, now a natural burial ground, is also a memorial to Major Barnston (died 1847) discussed on the blog here,

The north aisle, like nearly all churches in this area, used to have a clear run to the end of the nave, but the presence of an organ since the 19th century regrettably meant that a gallery just in front of the tower’s arch, where musicians located, became redundant and was removed. The present organ dates to 1949.

St Werburgh and St Chad stained glass in the chancel

The windows are often round-topped, set within rectangular frames that give the exterior an unusual appearance. Exceptions are the large east window behind the altar, installed in 1858 and showing the Sermon on the Mount, installed in memory of church benefactors William and Anne Plumpton, and the south window in the Barnston chapel, both gothic-style.

Most of the stained glass is interesting for the contrasting styles. Following the Trena Cox: Relections 100 exhibition in Chester last year I have become quite interested in 19th century stained glass. On the north side of the chancel, to the left as you face the altar, is a window showing St Chad and St Werburgh (to whom Chester Cathedral was dedicated when it was a Benedictine monastery), by Trena Cox. A look at Aleta Doran’s website devoted to Trena Cox confirmed that this was one of hers, from the 1950s (1953 to be exact). Those windows immediately opposite are similar in style but were clearly crafted by a different artist and show St David (patron saint of Wales) and St Cecilia. Most of the other stained glass was added in the 19th century, with many of the larger window openings being decorated with romantic takes on the gothic, whilst smaller ones are more minimalist. It was a little sad not to be able to learn something about the makers of the glass either at the church or after a hunt through my books and around the Internet.

Window dedicated to the memory of Harry Barnston installed by his sisters after he died in 1929, in somewhat Pre-Raphaelite style

Stained glass in the Barnston chapel, emulating gothic tracery and themes

At the rear (south side) of the building you can see a substantial addition at the west end (near the tower) and I assume that this was a 20th or 21st century add-on, presumably acting as a vestry and storage.
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The Churchyard

The churchyard includes a mixture of different types of grave, including chest, table and ledger tombs and vertical headstones, some accompanied by kerbs, mainly of good quality yellow sandstone. A particularly fine example is a Grade II listed double-chest grave made of yellow sandstone and dating to the early 18th century :

West ends of tombs have recessed round-headed panels; that to north contains an hourglass, that to south a skull and crossbones above an inscription Mors S… Omnium [i.e. Mors Sola Omnia,” meaning Death Conquers All]. North side of north tomb has a square central panel containing an encircled quatrefoil in a lozenge with a vertical panel right and a decayed panel left. The east end of each tomb has a fielded panel; south side of south tomb has 3 fielded panels in bolection moulded borders (Historic England – list entry number 1228746)

It was sobering to notice just how many of the chest grave inscriptions commemorate infants and children. I always spend an hour or so reading grave inscriptions and don’t remember seeing so many very young children commemorated, often from the same family in the same generation. As you would expect, the earlier graves are nearest to the church, although unusually many of these are on the north side, which is normally the last to be filled.

Red sandstone gravestone covered in yew berries

Moving away from the immediate area surrounding church building, to its south, the traditional upright gravestones of the later 19th century begin to dominate, with many examples of 19th century funerary symbolism on the headstones. Although many of the headstones are lancet-shaped and much of a muchness in terms of size, there was clearly a lot of choice available in terms of the symbolic motifs that decorated the tops of the graves.

Art deco style headstone

Through a small gate beyond the headstones, the churchyard has been extended for modern use. The 1922 War Memorial in the form of a stone cross commemorates eighteen men killed in the First World War and four in the Second World War.
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Final Comments

This medieval church, almost completely rebuilt in the 17th century, has a character of its own, reflecting various periods of restoration and intended improvement, with a strong gothic influence throughout. There are many more features than those described above, including benefaction boards, a list of incumbents, and memorials, and the church booklet produced by Cheshire County Council in 1989 is a good guide.

The church website contains no information about visiting, and the Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2019, but at the moment the church has an open door policy. On my two recent visits (October 2025) I was able to walk in. There is a contact page on the site, so if you are coming from any distance it might be worth double-checking.

It is splendid to have two really impressive churches, one either side of the river connected by a splendid 14th century bridge, with very different personalities and features, and both very well cared for and open to visit.